CONCERT FOR PEACE

Two Powerful Musical Pleas for Peace

By Waleed Abdallah

In 1938 Ralph Vaughan Williams was asked to write a choral work for the Huddersfield Choral Society's centennial celebrations, just as the prospect of the Second World War was looming. He had been forty-two in 1914, when - inspired by the prevalent patriotic fervour - he had volunteered to serve in Flanders, as an ambulance driver and later an artillery officer, and he had then shared the widespread disillusionment which this terrible war engendered. For Dona Nobis Pacem he drew on the Bible and on the poetry of Walt Whitman, who had served in the equally terrible American Civil War. One of Whitman's poems, 'Dirge for two Veterans', tells of the death of a father and son, ending with the chilling phrase 'and a double grave awaits them!'   Karl Jenkins was commissioned to write The Armed Man by the Royal Armouries Museumto commemorate the millennium, in memory of the victims of the Kosovo crisis. The relevance of the work is heightened by the fact that a CD of the work was issued on the eve of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. It is a compelling account of the terrible consequence of war and draws its texts from a wide variety of sources: the Bible, Kipling, Swift, Tennyson, Malory, Dryden, the Hindu Mahabharata and the 'Call to prayer' from The Koran.  Both works end by celebrating the joys and the desirability of peace.   It would be great if you could join us for this special concert. Paul's Church, West Street, is in central Brighton. beside the Odeon cinema, a short walk from Brighton Station and round the corner from Churchill Square shopping centre.

Marking 50 years since the composer's death

Vaughan Williams

Dona Nobis Pacem

Karl Jenkins

The Armed Man

A Mass for Peace

Saturday 8th March 2008 7.30pm at St Paul's Church, West Street, Brighton

Tickets £10/£8, from Classical Longplayer Duke Street and on the door .

* There is an NCP car park nearby.